Page 9 - Industrial Technology October/ November 2020 issue

make better decisions and predict demand with customers, Greater regionalisation
triggering a reaction along the links and activating frontline The past twenty years have seen the supply chain
teams to address needs more efficiently. Together, connectivity footprint shift. In early 2000s, the footprint was
and artificial intelligence can eliminate downtime by continually highly concentrated in mature markets. By mid-
running tests to improve performance, detect issues and create 2000s, to align with customer footprint and
diagnosis before outages occur. This enables predictive analytics optimise costs, it shifted to an industrialised
to provide real time information that supported up to date footprint with international production lines. Today,
decision making, which in turn reduces the risk of unplanned the risks associated with long chains, along with
downtime. growing trade tensions and geo-politics, are
Thanks to digitisation, suppliers can be fully integrated into causing many organisations to again re-evaluate.
an “extended supply chain”, encouraging transparency and Over the past ten years, we have implemented
traceability. Digitisation becomes a foundation for circularity. It a multi-local and balanced footprint approach,
opens manufacturing to all shareholders and changes the complemented by tight global coordination. For this
relationship between suppliers and manufacturers. Of course, to increase – we need to further build our local
the human component is key. Digitisation allows for agile resilience through shorter supply chains, rooted in
management, augmenting and empowering field operators and local communities. This is not a shift from
enabling unmanned operations to ensure their safety. It breaks globalisation, merely a new form – with global
down silos and builds collaboration and trust. players connected in shorter chains.

Sustainable momentum across the chain Building the supply chain of tomorrow
While the headlines might have increased in recent years, There are many questions circulating about to
sustainability in supply chains is not a new trend. Supply chains what extent Covid-19 will change or accelerate
are major contributors to environmental impact and since the these trends. There is no denying that the crisis
early 2000s, many sustainable initiatives have been undertaken. was a supply chain crisis (caused by lockdowns,
While this momentum was already underway, it will be borders closing, country-by-country specifics).
accelerated going forward. However, Covid-19 has not changed the
The need for sustainability to address primary threats such fundamentals; rather it has acted as a catalyst
as Climate Change has been reinforced by Covid-19 and will be that is forcing all organisations to rapidly adopt
a priority in recovery plans. Governments and businesses alike these trends. This builds resilience, and those who
are focusing on a green future. embrace it quickly will set themselves up for
success.
A purely local footprint is not feasible – one
disruption can bring down the whole chain. To
overcome this, organisations need to regionalise, FAULHABER Precision Gearheads
with a form of redundancy, and empower the local
level, with a tight coordination of local sites. Of Expand your
course, such reorganisation will impact costs. But
it will be in both ways – increased CapEx for
redundancy and relocation, and reduced costs due possibilities
to decreased inventory and working capital from
shortening the supply chains, as well as higher
sustainability. The new family of planetary
Resilience requires an end-to-end vision. It
should be considered at the level of the gearheads FAULHABER GPT.
interconnected partner ecosystem. It requires Move up a gear where others
European and Far East partners and can pass on the cost visibility and transparency from both Tier One and downshift.
reduction from buying in bulk to our customers. Tier Two suppliers all the way to customers.
While stockpiles of spare parts are a useful buffer Business continuity plans need to reflect this end- faulhaber.com/GPT/en
against uncertainty, they are also a hidden cost. According to-end value chain.
to McKinsey & Company, warehouse operations cost A step change in efficiency can be achieved
companies around €300 billion each year and this through integration across four axes: the integration
continues to grow as supply chains become more complex. of energy and automation to achieve both energy NEW
Here, the three main costs facing manufacturers are space, and process efficiency; the vertical integration of
labour and equipment. Specifically, you will need to pay for end-point to cloud, so all data from the shop floor
a building to keep inventory safe, employees to move parts upwards is visible; the lifecycle integration,
around and equipment to process them. capturing data from design and build, all the way
Understocking is even more problematic; if you don’t to operation and maintenance, to eliminate the
have the parts you need, when you need them, you risk inefficiencies in the transition from CapEx to OpEx;
having to halt production, and downtime is expensive. and the integration of all sites and workshops into NEU
Working with your VMI service partner to understand how One Unified Operation Center for a big-picture view
much inventory you will need, and how often, means you of energy and resource consumption.
can find a balance that suits your production schedule and Technology is the answer: we need digitisation
still ensure a reduction in on-site stock and enjoy the across every aspect of the chain. Automation can
subsequent cash flow benefits this brings. support event response and day-to-day operational
Millions of consumers are overpaying for their phone management, predicting and mitigating risks to
contracts, but let’s not let the same be true of customer demand and shaping scenarios to
manufacturers and their supply chains. delivery optimal efficiency and agility.
MORE INFORMATION: www.tfc.eu.com MORE INFORMATION: www.schneider-electric.co.uk

October/November 2020 • INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY WE CREATE MOTION